Several weeks ago, I had the extreme privilege of visiting my childhood elementary school to check out the newest and best in classroom decorations! Despite their busy schedules - meetings and last minute preparations before school started the next day - the gracious teachers at Hartville Elementary welcomed me into their colorful and engaging world; a world in which they will spend countless hours the next 180 days, imp!acting the lives of the children in our community. I thank you all for dedicating your lives to helping our children grow, both as students and individuals. Here's to a brilliant school year, ladies and gents! {And thanks a million for allowing me the opportunity to visit your classrooms! I had a blast!}

*          *          *

We love this classroom jobs display from third grade teacher, Jennifer Carey. The colorful {adorably homemade} pockets made with vibrant scrapbook paper and button accents work perfectly with the clothespin markers to remind students of their responsibility in keeping the classroom running smoothly - both through classroom duties and their personal behavior.

Pocket Jobs Display

• Background: Blue background paper.
• Title: "Responsibility...You Are Responsible For You. Only You!"  - Jennifer used a purchased poster to remind her students of this important message, but you could also use word processing software to create your own!
• Border: Colorfully patterned trimmer.
• Decoration: Create a pocket pattern from heavy weight paper, using this to trace and cut pocket shapes from plain card stock. Mount the cut pockets onto patterned scrapbook paper, creating a vibrant border around each. Create as many layers as desired, edging the sides of the cutout with decorative scissors if desired, as well. Label each pocket with a different job title, laminate, and add other embellishments - a button, colorful paper scraps, etc. Set a basket of clothespins, each pin scripted with the name of a student, next to the display and use them to assign classroom duties.

Supplies for this bulletin board...

• Blue background paper
• Blue checked wavy border
• Colorful card stock and patterned scrapbook paper or pocket accents
• Buttons
• Clothespins